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School board hopefuls restart campaigns as re-vote set

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Voters in Schuylkill and Carbon counties who will vote in the special primary election for Hazleton Area School Board can expect to be targeted by campaigning candidates.

Luzerne County chief solicitor Dave Pedri said Tuesday the special election to re-do the Hazleton Area School Board primary election will be held July 23. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the regular polling places in each precinct.

Only the voters in the Schuylkill and Carbon county sections of the school district who cast ballots in the original May 21 primary election are eligible to vote in the new election.

Rick Morelli and Dave Sosar, co-hosts of "Inside Scoop," the current events talk show on SSPTV Channel 13, hosted three of the seven candidates for nomination to the school board in a recent taping of the show.

Clarence John, Jared O'Donnell and Carmella Yenkevich, who came in third, fourth and fifth place respectively in the flawed May 21 primary, talked with the hosts about the ballot mistake that led to the special election, their concerns about the re-vote, and their campaign intentions.

The special election was ordered by a Luzerne County judge after a mistake was made by the Luzerne County Election Bureau in the May 21 primary election. The election bureau removed the name of candidate Steve Hahn from the Luzerne County ballot after he withdrew his candidacy, but his name remained on the Schuylkill and Carbon ballots because Luzerne County election officials failed to notify Schuylkill and Carbon officials of his withdrawal.

As a result, Hahn received more than 500 votes on the Democrat and Republican ballots in Schuylkill and Carbon counties - votes that might have gone to other school board candidates if Hahn's name was not erroneously listed on the ballot.

Whether she wins or loses in the re-vote, Yenkevich, the only candidate to file a challenge to the flawed election, said her primary goal is a fair and legal election.

"Now it's going to be a fair election with a correct ballot. I'm happy about that," she said.

O'Donnell said he supports the election bureau's decision to re-do the vote with the electronic voting machines, not mail-in ballots.

"If we are going to have another election, let's do it the way we did it on May 21. Let's re-enact the primary election as closely as we can," he said.

A list of people eligible to vote in the special election will be culled from the sign-in sheets that voters sign when they entered the polling places on Election Day. No actual previous ballots will be reviewed,

"No one is going to know who voted for who," Morelli explained.

But once that list of people who voted on May 21 is generated, the candidates can target their campaign to the specific people who are eligible to vote in the special election.

O'Donnell said he enjoys the campaign trail and looks forward to meeting the voters.

"I will campaign. I like to meet people and hear their concerns," O'Donnell said.

Yenkevich said she will likely hit the campaign trail in the targeted areas.

John said he will campaign, but not vigorously. He said his reputation and record speak for him.

The names of all seven candidates will appear on the special election ballot, which, in addition to Yenkevich, John and O'Donnell, includes James Chapman, Robert Mehalick, Fred Mariano and Thomas Chirico.

According to the judge's order, the election results in Luzerne County will stand and be certified. Results from Schuylkill and Carbon counties will be tabulated after the special election and added to the Luzerne County results to determine the top four vote-getters on the Republican and Democrat tickets.

mlight@standardspeaker.com

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